Recent Posts

.NET Core applications contain a file named <something>.runtimeconfig.json. This file can be used to control
a variety of options. Most developers need not be concerned with it because the SDK
generates the file, but I think it’s worth understanding. The file can be used to control settings which are
not surfaced in Visual Studio, such as automatically running your app on higher .NET Core versions,
tuning thread pools and garbage collection, and more.

A closer look at Microsoft.AspNetCore.App and common pitfalls

August 29, 2018

Shared frameworks have been an essential part of .NET Core since 1.0.
ASP.NET Core shipped as a shared framework for the first time in 2.1.
You may not have noticed if things are working smoothly, but there have been
somebumps and ongoing discussion about its design.
In this post, I will dive deep into the shared frameworks and talk about some common developer pitfalls.

Introducing an API for loading .dll files (and their dependencies) as 'plugins'

July 25, 2018

I recently published a new package for .NET Core developers that want
to implement a plugin system. Dynamic assembly loading in .NET Core is difficult to get right. The API in this package
wrangles the complexity through a feature called ‘load contexts’. In this post, I’ll walk through problems that motivated the creation of this
project, and explain what the API can do. My hope is that this plugin API will let you focus more on
writing your app, and put an end to the inevitable mess of creating your own assembly loading code.

This project setup supports browser live-reloading changes to TypeScript files while you develop in ASP.NET Core

July 5, 2018

Recently, I spent a weekend banging my head against the wall as I tried to figure out how to upgrade a personal project
to webpack 4, TypeScript 2.9, and React (used to be AngularJS 1.6). I finally got it all working together – and even got
hot module replacement (hmr) working. TL;DR? Checkout the code here: https://github.com/natemcmaster/aspnetcore-webpack-hmr-demo